Previously on Secret Life of the Influencers...
"Do not invite freshmen to the bonfire—it's social suicide!"
"I say," he faced Talia with a devious grin on his face, "throw them to the wolves."
Who the hell is this girl? Massie thought to herself with a squint as she quickly eyed her outfit.
"I'm Chantelle,"
"...we are the influencers."
1 New Message.
CF: Are you going to be at the bonfire?
Armani's Estate
Backyard
Saturday September 4th
5:52 PM
Over the course of two years, Charlie Armani had become a household name. Her father was a famous psychologist with his own TV show, and taught her, while she was young, that people who feel connected to you are more likely to do what you want them to do. And the best way to connect with people was to make their most insecure self your favorite part of them—if they felt they could trust you, they would follow you.
Charlie stayed under the radar for most of middle school. In elementary school, she was always a good student. She looked up to her mother, who was best friends with Tatia's mother, Antalia Tatum, until she passed.
When her mother was alive, she was an amazing person. A famous model and activist, Pierce Armani was a woman that men wanted to be with and women wanted to be friends with. Her father, Charles Armani, was her therapist before she became a supermodel. Her mother struggled with mental health for essentially the entire duration of her life. Being a model and being judged day in and day out was detrimental to her well-being. After taking a break and meeting Charlie's dad, she decided to get back to doing what she loved. She became who she once was again—a supermodel, strutting runways with her best friend since childhood, fundraising and hosting charity events to give to those less fortunate, and being an amazing wife to her husband, as well as a mother to her children.
Everything changed when she passed.
Suddenly, Pierce Armani was no longer a vital reminder of what humanity should be—celebrities who had either been shamed by her for ignoring important issues in society created inhumane stories that slandered her name. Hearing and seeing people disregard the life of her mother made Charlie angry, of course. But ultimately, she decided to continue her mother's work. Helping others, creating safe spaces for people. Including any and every one.
But to do that she had to stay on top. She had to be the alpha.
"Daydreaming?"
Charlie jumped and pulled herself out of her thoughts. Thinking about her mother right now would only upset her. She had work to do.
"Just thinking." She smiled. Standing in front of her was her boyfriend, Nathan Calloway.
Charlie and Nathan had been together since spring of their freshman year. They'd been friends since the beginning of middle school, but Nathan always had a crush on Charlie. Charlie, however, was smitten with another boy until her priorities changed. Nonetheless, Nathan made her happy.
He grinned softly before planting a soft kiss on her forehead. Charlie was one of the few people to be gifted with the presence of Nathan's vulnerability. Usually, he was reactive and hot-headed, traits that only did him any good on the football field.
"What's left to do on that list of yours?" He asked, placing his hand on the small of her back.
Charlie looked down at her notepad.
Food and drink table, done.
Speakers set up, done.
Lounge chairs placed sporadically across the lawn, check.
Firewood set up—she looked up across the lawn to see a few pieces of wood laid out in a circle, certainly not big enough for a bonfire—not done.
"That." She giggled, pointing to Emilio and Nolen, Nathan's fraternal twin brother, as they struggled to carry large pieces of firewood to the center of the yard. Their clothes were covered in debris.
Nathan rolled his eyes as he watched Emilio and Nolen attempt to sword fight with wood pieces that were too heavy to maneuver. "I'm on it." He stated before planting a final kiss on her cheek and jogging towards them.
Charlie shook her head as Nathan was somehow convinced to join the fight. She heard her name called from the door of the patio and turned her head swiftly.
It was her brother. "Pierre!" She cheered, rushing over to greet him.
Pierre Armani was a year younger than Charlie, and spent his summer vacationing with a few of his friends in Maui. She greeted him with a big hug. He was the closest thing she had that reminded her of her mother, not just because he was named after her.
Pierre often lived in Charlie's shadow, but he looked up to and adored her consistently.
"How was Hawaii?" She questioned, ecstatic to see her brother again.
"It was-"
"Soooo hot!" Pierre's best friend, Donovan Jordan, also known as DJ, burst through the wooden patio doors with a popsicle in his mouth. "The girls, I mean."
Charlie rolled her eyes and gave Donovan a hug. "Hi DJ."
DJ smiled as the red popsicle in his hand dripped down his wrist. He examined the current state of the yard before licking the sugary fluid from his hand, "You having a party or something?"
Just then, Tatia joined them with a stack of clear glass plates in her hand. She rolled her eyes at the sight in front of her. "It's not a party, it's a bonfire." Tatia and Donovan fought like siblings more than Charlie and Pierre. When DJ would come to cheerleading practice to smooth talk the girls she would scold him in a motherly manner, though it always went in one ear and out the other. In reality, she looked at him as the little brother she never had.
"Nobody's here." DJ replied with mockery.
Charlie laughed lightly as Tatia snarled.
"It hasn't started yet." She used her free hand to flick the wooden stick of the popsicle in his hand, knocking it onto the floor as he whined. "And since you're here you can help set up, smart ass." Tatia shoved the plates into his abdomen, forcing him to grab them before they fell. She ordered him to follow her despite his expressed disapproval as they made their way to the food area.
"So," Charlie grinned, tossing an arm over her brother's shoulder, "tell me all about Hawaii."
Westchester
Rivera's Limo
Saturday September 4th
7:02 PM
"Gawd, it's hot." Dylan Marvil whined as she rolled the window down.
Alicia rolled her eyes and pinched Dylan's metallic jacket. "Then take this off. It won't cool down until the sun sets—duh."
Claire giggled in her seat with Massie as the two girls bickered.
Just then, Claire's phone buzzed.
Cam: on my way (:
Claire's heart skipped a tiny beat at the message. She'd been worried that spending the summer apart paired with both of them starting high school would make things weird between them. In reality they couldn't have been better.
Cam surprised her at the nail shop with smoothies for her and the rest of the PC. He'd always been so sweet and thoughtful. It was admirable that that had never changed about him.
"Listen up!" Massie exclaimed with two claps of her hands. Dylan and Alicia's bickering ceased. "Here's the plan."
"There's a plan?" Claire asked. She knew Massie had a plan for the first day of school—skip the first few minutes of orientation to be first ones at the sign-up lists for their designated clubs (Massie searched the yearbook to see what clubs Charlie and each of her friends were in. She was going to sign up for robotics with Emilio, though she gravely did not want to, as well as SGA with Charlie and Chantelle, and the social committee with Charlie, Aubrey, and Nolen. Claire was to sign up for SGA as well, the social committee, and students anonymous, a club of her choice. Alicia was to sign up for social committee, photography with Aubrey and Nathan, and college career with Charlie. Dylan agreed to sign up for fitness club, which consisted of Nolen, Nathan, and Emilio). She also wanted them to reserve the table in the middle of the cafeteria before anyone else had the chance, find their lockers and get them reassigned, if need be, and sign up for cheerleading—everyone knew that cheerleaders were at the top of the food chain.
Massie ignored Claire's question and continued. "Alicia, what time does the toast start?" She asked. Though she knew the answer, she wanted to ask for a slight dramatic effect.
"8 o'clock." Alicia noted with a finger pointed in the air.
Massie nodded, "So we go in as soon as the toast starts." A mischievous smile appeared on her lips.
Claire's phone buzzed again, drawing both her and Dylan's attention. This time, it was Dylan's heart who raced. And not in a good way.
Armani's Estate
The Bonfire
Saturday September 4th
7:36 PM
Tatia Tatum, sitting on the shoulders of Nolen Calloway, cheered as loud as she possibly could while watching the flag football game play out in front of her. There was twenty seconds left on the clock, with the juniors in the lead.
"Run out the clock!" Pierre shouted from her right. Cheers of agreeance from the rest of the sophomores and juniors surrounding them were boisterous enough to hurt her ears, but she was too excited to worry about her hearing.
To juniors, attending the bonfire for the first time was a rite of passage. They weren't allowed to attend until their third year, unless you were a freshman or sophomore being considered for the alpha position. It had been a tradition for years, meant for upperclassmen to celebrate the few teenage years they had remaining before going off to college, but before Nick Hotz became alpha the traditions were beginning to die. The alphas before him were snotty, excluded people outside of their friend groups and acted as dictators. Nick decided that when he became alpha, he was going to change this—make school a place that people could get an education and have fun. That was why he chose Charlie—she was adamant about the same things he wanted for BOP, and trusted her enough to leave the future of the school in her hands.
The mean girl era was over...
...for now.
"Yes!" Tatia cheered as Emilio threw the football to the floor in celebration of the final touchdown, securing the win for juniors.
Nolen lowered himself to the ground and let Talia get down so they could celebrate. Juniors and sophomores began to flood the yard and celebrated with the junior team. Seniors had always won the annual flag football game, but this year the juniors had Emilio and Nathan, impeccably fast track stars, making it hard for the seniors to chase them and prevent them from scoring.
Emilio and Nathan ran in circles with shouts of victory before Emilio made his way to the speakers and climbed on top.
"Geronimoooo!"
Shrieks of surprise riddled throughout the crowd as Emilio jumped from the top of the speakers into the crowd. Emilio crowd surfed momentarily before making his way back to the front-whoever scored the winning touchdown was to introduce the student body president, also known as the alpha, so that they could give the toast.
"Give him the mic!" a random character shouted.
DJ passed Emilio the mic and started another round of cheers and applause.
"Shoutout to the seniors for a good game-" He stopped to point at a few of the players on the senior's team before giving them a thumbs-up "-and shoutout to the juniors for our first flag football win in six years!"
Another bout of screams and applause dispersed through the crowd before he continued.
"And big ups to everyone who came out to celebrate the start of the school year—it's the seniors' last year here so make sure you show them some love and have fucking fun!" He dropped the mic and threw his arms in the air to incite more applause.
Charlie laughed at Emilio. He always acted so tough and cool but in actuality he was a ball of fun and love, and he loved his friends more than anything.
Emilio picked the mic back up from the ground and flicked off pieces of grass. "Here's your student body president, captain of the cheerleading squad, and too many other clubs for me to name right now—Charlie!"
Armani's Estate
The Bonfire
Saturday September 4th
7:59 PM
Charlie accepted the mic from Emilio and air kissed him on each cheek before he rushed to join the rest of the crowd.
"How's it going?" She asked with a laugh, knowing everyone was excited. This was the whole purpose of the bonfire—getting everyone on the same wavelength to start the school year. Nothing else mattered except for the fun they were going to have and the memories they were going to make. All of the drama from the years before were long gone.
Charlie waited for the crowd to grow quiet before she spoke again. "I want to thank everyone for coming out—and everyone who helped set up," she waved her hand towards her group of friends, "Tatia, Aubrey, Chantelle, Emilio, Nathan, Pierre, DJ, and Nolen. This was a great turnout and I couldn't have done it alone. Thank you." She paused to clap for her friends and the rest of the students joined in. She wanted to make sure she gave credit when it was due, running a school by herself was going to be hard, but with her friends she could definitely do it.
"As you all know the first day of school is on Monday-" she was interrupted temporarily by groans of disagreement to which she responded to by laughing, "-I know, I know. But as your student body president it's my job to make sure that things like this-" she gestured around her, "-keep us going."
Charlie handed the microphone to her brother, who in return handed her a box of matches. The tradition was to light six matches-one for the juniors, one for the seniors, and one for each of the four years they'd spend as undergraduate students in college-and throw each one into the fire.
Just as Charlie was about to light the first match she could hear murmurs of confusion make its way throughout the crowd.
Charlie, with furrowed brows, placed the match back into the box and set it on the ground, peering over the crowd. She was too short to see what was happening.
"What's going on?" She asked Pierre, who was standing next to her still wearing the referee shirt from the game. He stepped onto one of the wooden logs to get a better view as people began to turn around amidst the commotion to see what had happened.
"A group of girls just came in." He finally answered.
"What?" She snapped, standing on the tip of her toes.
"Who wears heels to a bonfire?" A girl Charlie remembered taking Honors Trigonometry with last year asked.
"Is she wearing a jacket? It's hot as hell!"
"Are those freshmen?" Charlie heard Tatia's angry voice ask.
Charlie, listening to the questions being thrown left and right from the crowd, grew frustrated and stormed into the crowd for clarification. No one had ever disrupted the alpha's speech during the bonfire.
Her palms began to sweat.
Nick had mentioned in the past that people had tried to overthrow the alpha. Many failed and were socially shunned, but those who succeeded, though it rarely happened (and when it did, they eventually lost the respect of the student body due to being power hungry and a new alpha would rise to the occasion), always did it by coming full force one-hundred percent of the time. And, if Tatia was right and those were freshmen, she certainly did not invite them.
They were crashing the bonfire.
The End.
- And so it begins... that's chapter four! This one was pretty long sorry about that lol. It was about 2,500 words, I'm not sure if I'll shoot for 1,500 words each chapter or 2,000. I'll let you guys know what I decide but 2,500-3,000 word chapters will be one's with lots of drama, for sure. Stay tuned, and leave a review or two!